Day 3: Nanchang

Monday was a wonderful and completely crazy day. We all got up and kind of looked at each other. We tried again with the bottle to no success, but no worries! There was a Western/Eastern breakfast buffet in the hotel. Mak was showing a bit of a preference for me at this point...daddy made her cry (although she got over it quickly when I disappeared). I put Makena in one  of my favorite little outfits and it was so fun to see if on her! We've (okay, I've) collected clothes over the last four years for her and it is wonderful to see them fit! At breakfast we tried eggs, congee, and bread. They were all big hits! Yay! We got food in her belly! The formula thing really caused us some concern and we also had issues with water. After  trying every combination under the sun...cutting the nipple hole bigger, trying a different bottle, trying a sippy cup, adding a bit of juice, adding a bit of sugar (very common here)...Ugh! We were going to dehydrate the girl in less than 24 hours! Help!

 

At 10am, the orphanage director, Mr. Zhong, sat down with us to speak and to  answer our questions. As it turns out, Makena has spent her first year with a foster family! She had a late-40s foster mom and four foster siblings. Her oldest foster brother worked construction, so they were  pretty high in the economy. Her foster mother loves baby girls and only takes a foster child once in a great while. We also discovered the daughter of our new friends, Becky and Alex, lived nearby to Makena and they knew each other. Mr. Zhong talked about foster care and about how much the mothers love the babies. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, including his!

 

We got take out from the hotel and ate in our room. Makena loved pizza crust and Gerber puffs...I know, not the healthiest, but we were just trying to bond! That afternoon we all headed on a bus to the civil affairs office. Muggy doesn't even begin to describe how hot and sweaty and humid the office was. The one win we had pretty quick was that we discovered that our girl simply didn't want to drink water from a baby bottle..she prefers drinking straight from the Evian bottle! A girl after our own hearts! We had three tasks at the office. First, we took a family photo (!). Second, we paid the fees.  Third, we  got interviewed. We had to promise not to abuse, neglect, or abandon our daughter and promise to love her forever. That wasn't hard! At the end of a very long three or so hours, we all received our adoption certificates. It was official! Makena was a Brown!

 

Then it was a bus ride to the police station to get passport pictures taken. That was actually really nice because there was air conditioning and it was quick! Who knows what her picture will look like, but we were proud that they didn't have to take it more than once! Monday evening we did a group dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. It was great...Veronica ordered steamed egg and vegetable congee for each baby. Turns out, Makena is an eater! She went to town! Mama didn't get to each hardly anything (she would only let me touch her at this point), but it didn't matter. She was eating! Yay! Back at the hotel it was time for another bath, another bottle (which she still wouldn't take), and bedtime. After that great meal, it only took a few minutes to get her  to sleep. One of the things that was on her lifestyle sheet was that she cried before sleep. They were not kidding! She screams and then collapses! Very endearing...Charllie and I also crashed...Tuesday was going to be long too!

Day 2: Gotcha Photos

Day 2: Gotcha Day

The wake-up came at 4:00am and the bell boy picked up our luggage at 4:30am. Breakfast (buns and coffee) was at 5:20am and the bus left for the airport at 5:50am. Everyone was punctual...all 9 families (we were to meet two more in Nanchang). While we were all going through the motions, there was an odd unspoken feeling amongst the crowd. It was our last moments without our children. Let me repeat that...our children! We were fortunate enough to fly out of the new Beijing airport terminal that was built for the 2008 Olympics. It was lovely and a true combination of the Hong Kong airport and the Seoul airport - very modern and full of glass. We hung out with all of our new friends in the terminal waiting for our flight. A trip to the airport convenience store yielded Pringles and soda. Yum! Not much else was recognizable and I was not about to buy fruit in an airport! Our flight to Nanchang was uneventful, if a bit dramatic. The pilot took us straight into the air and straight down to the ground for our take-off and landings. It was crazy and just enough humor for all of us.

 

The Nanchang airport was fine, although the bathroom was a typical Chinese water closet. Our luggage made it (yippee!) and we all boarded the bus to the Jin Feng Hotel in Nanchang, which is the capital of the Jiangxi province.  Our phenomenal guide, Veronica, gave us such a memorable talk on the way to the hotel. Charlie recorded it so that we could watch it again; what an amazing lady! It wasn't even anything that I can write down, just know that it lifted everyone's spirits and gave us such a sense of peace. Wow, just thinking about it now sends chills down my spine!

 

We unpacked and went to a local market to buy some water (tap water is not potable here) before we headed to lunch. Our last meal as a family of two! It was so eventful that the wedding reception that was being thrown on the floor above the restaurant accidentally dumped the good luck rice on me! Yes, all over me...it was in my hair, on my clothes, on the table, you name it, it was there! What a sign of good luck! Gotcha was supposed to be on the second floor of the hotel at 3:30pm, and all of the parents were anxiously waiting in the lobby...every time a baby came in the door everyone would gasp (what stalkers we were!). Veronica came down and said that they wouldn't be there until 4:30pm because the orphanage bus was stuck on the freeway because of a bus accident. Those poor babies (and those equally poor nannies) were stuck on that bus for over 5 hours! Ugh...

 

At about 4:30pm, there were a few babies getting out of a bus out front...they started to come in and we saw Makena! She was the second baby in the door and was being carried by a beautiful young nanny. We recognized her right away. The throng of adoptive parents was so funny! Everyone headed upstairs - babies first and then families. All of the babies sit with their nannies in a row of chairs and the families sat in a semi-circle around them. We had to have our passports, so when they called Makena's Chinese name (which took us a while to pronounce, but we've become quite proficient!) we had to take our passports to the orphanage director to verify that we were the right parents for Mak. Then the nanny handed her to me and made sure we knew that she had just started to walk! What a moment. It is impossible to put it into words and I won't even try. We watched everyone get their babies while Mak, Charlie, and I got a bit acquainted. It was pretty much mass chaos, but everyone waited their turn to meet their kids.

 

We brought Makena up to our room to get to know her. She was not happy, but was not crying. We played a bit and tried desperately to make her a bottle of formula. The orphanage director had given us a bag of formula and rice cereal that she ate, so we were trying to follow the Chinese directions. Ha! BTW, it is now actually Wednesday and we have it down to a science...and it turns out that she doesn't like rice cereal - go figure! Anyway, the clothes that she came in were way too tight for her and she had big marks on her legs from the bloomers and the socks. We will keep that outfit for her, but it definitely isn't going back on her. Veronica ordered pizza for us and brought it to our room while we had two hours of family time. At 7pm, Charlie went downstairs to fill out some more paperwork and then I headed down when he returned. We got Mak to sleep pretty easy that night; she was obviously grieving. Veronica recommended that we put her in one of our beds (it seems that almost all of the hotels only have two doubles...no kings) to sleep. That seemed to work. Talk about a bizarre feeling though. We just sat there and looked at her. What a little beauty! She was very quiet that day and didn't cry - boy were we in for a rude awakening in a couple of days! She did sleep for about four hours at a time that night and while we tried making her bottles at her prescribed times, she just wouldn't take them. Poor little thing...Monday was going to be a hectic day too!

All is Well...except Internet access!

All is great here. We've been with Makena for almost 48 hours now and are officially her parents! We have so much to write, but are having a lot of Internet issues. Am going to try something new and hoping that it works much better! The posts might not be perfect, but at least we'll get some info posted! We miss you all and can't wait for you to meet our little princess (more about that later...)!

Day 1: Beijing

We had a busy day. Jet lag got Charlie up early and he headed out for a walk around town at about 5am. Breakfast was at 6:30am and then the two of us walked around for about an hour before the tour started. It is so much fun to walk around the town. Very few of the dogs are on leashes and there are hundreds of bicycles on every street. We ran into a local market, which is always an education, and then saw a mini-parade going down the street. It was nice and cool even; it is always nice to not be sweaty before the day even starts!

Veronica had us on the bus at 8:30am and we headed to Tiananmen's Square and the Forbidden City. Then it started to rain...buckets! There were hundreds of street vendors that really wanted us to buy an umbrella. We did not and just hung in the rain for the next few hours. It really was a wonderful tour that walked us several miles from Tiananmen's Square to the South Entrance of the Forbidden City all the way through to the North Exit of the Forbidden City. Amazing...Charlie and I really wanted to go to the Chinese National Museum, but there wasn't time. Next trip! Let me reiterate at this point...we were soaking wet (if we get any pictures posted, you'll see what I mean!).

Once we made it back to the bus we headed to the Cloisonne factory where we had a wonderful lunch. Then it was onto the Great Wall of China - the Badaling entrance. The rain stopped, but it stayed very cool. That really helped everyone, as it was much steeper than anyone had anticipated! I went up to the first castle with Charlie, which was just about as far as most of the folks went. Charlie and our new friends Alex and his son, David, headed up to the next castle and ended up going all the way to number six! Their heads were in the clouds by then...I call them castles, but they were really guard towers (the kids all called them castles and it stuck!). It truly is a wonder of the world. Everyone was in awe.

We headed back to the hotel at 4pm, exhausted and still wet. Veronica went over the process for Gotcha Day tomorrow and we received our travel approval sheet with Mak's photo on it. Right before we got back to the Poly Plaza hotel, we passed by the Bird's Nest and other Olympic sites. Amazing!

Our orders are to have our luggage ready for the bell boy at 4:30am, breakfast is at 5:20am, and we leave for the Beijing airport at 5:50am. I've got to get packing...good night! Tomorrow is a big day.

Greetings from Beijing

Today, we are tourists! Complete with snacks, a roll of toilet paper (for the squat potties), sunscreen, bottled water and a digital SLR camera. For the record, at least we have them all in one bag! We're just heading down to the breakfast buffet and hope to enjoy some breakfast congee while we are there. Our guide is meeting us at 8:30am to take us on our only full day of tourist activities!

We have discovered a bit of a snag in our attempt to blog this trip though...it appears that Blogspot is blocked from our hotel in Beijing, but we are still able to use the BlackBerry. We're hoping that it is a temporary thing and we'll not have trouble in Nanchang. The only reason that we wanted to use it was for pictures; we'll deal with that when we get there though. We can get to Facebook though, so we'll be sure to post a bunch there once we get to Nanchang!

In Beijing...

We had a smooth and safe flight into Beijing. It's a full 12 hours ahead, so jet lag is kicking in a bit...we're troopers though! No sleep for us until tonight. We just showered and changed clothes so that we can go downstairs and enjoy the juice bar and the sites. Will go with our guide to the local grocery store so we can buy some snacks for our big day of touring tomorrow! We'll post pictures and other tidbits ASAP.

on our way!

We are in Newark awaiting our next leg. Beijing here we come! Our first plane was delayed (as to be expected into Newark), so we got breakfast vouchers. What a good start to the day! And for the record, I'm not being sarcastic. It really was a good start! We just finished a mango margarita and a beer...parenthood here we come. The countdown has begun! Wish us luck as we board an oversold flight direct to China. I pulled the short straw and will be starting out in the middle seat. Good times...

Blessed

We are blessed. Plain and simple. There are so many friends and family that have touched us by their good wishes and generosity. Thank you to each and every one of you! We truly appreciate all of our friends and family and look forward to introducing you all to Makena (in due time...jet lag from Asia is brutal!).

And we're off...

It's 12:19am and we're officially packed and ready to go...okay, okay...lesson learned. We should have started packing before 9pm tonight! It was easy to keep our checked bags under the 44lb weight limit for China, but it was a bit tough to squeeze everything in. Between the two of us, we have two 25" check bags and a few small carry-ons - for 17 days! Wish us luck...

I was just standing in my closet staring at my options and I realized that this is probably the last time for many years that I will have that luxury. I imagine that our daughter will not sit patiently while I try on four different outfits every morning or simply stare at the rack and think that I have nothing to wear.

Charlie and I are so excited to start this new chapter; I just got a message that our flight from home to Newark is two hours late tomorrow morning. Good thing we have a four-hour layover!

Travel Dates

We have lift off! Our travel dates were confirmed this morning and we are in the process of purchasing plane tickets RIGHT NOW! We will meet Makena EE on June 7th...one week from Sunday!

A Travel Update

We've started the countdown...we are supposed to be leaving in about a week. I say supposed to, because we still do not have plane tickets yet. Before you say anything, we can't purchase them until we have the green light from our agency, who is waiting from the green light from Mak's province. Charlie and I decided that we were just going to go with the flow and be happy with whatever our travel arrangements (and dates) end up being...although we kind of feel like our girl does when they first put her down in front of that giant cake! Not unhappy, but definitely not completely comfortable.

We are so excited about the next couple of weeks though...wish us luck!

Please remind me...

If (actually, from what I hear it is "when") I ever get tired and long for my old life of business travel and conference calls and Banana Republic suits and high heels and working dinners and feeling important, please remind me how it is not cool that the people at multiple airports know your name... and it is not cool to spend half your time in a hotel room... and it is not cool to troubleshoot the hotel's wireless connection every night... and it is not cool to use your BlackBerry as your alarm clock.

It is cool to be there for your children and it is cool to spend time with your spouse and it is cool to go out with the girls and it is very cool to not wear all dry clean only clothes! Right?

Change

I love change. I embrace change. I long for change. I like to move. I like to change jobs. I like to meet new people. I love to travel to foreign countries. Change for me is good.

Today, I'm freaking out about change! I am SO ready to start this new parenthood journey with Charlie and I am SO ready to say good-bye to traveling every other week for work and I am SO ready to meet our little girl...but today, I'm completely freaked out. We leave for China two weeks from today! ...and we're not ready. I'm up in the NJ/NY area until tomorrow night trying desperately to concentrate on work (I got a great email thank you from one of my colleagues today that said, "You are one of the most effective and enthusiastic trainers I've encountered!"...so at least I was on my game during those sessions!). My awesome neighbor said that we had some big boxes from Babies R Us delivered this week, so I can't wait to get home and see what they are. We ordered Mak's car seat and baby gates last weekend. Wow. A car seat in the car. That's bizarre - and awesome!

Yes, we're a bit crazy...

...for trying on the pool and/or bath visors that we received for Mak at our baby shower yesterday. Apparently we are cracking under the pressure!

A great group of work friends threw us a fun baby shower. The food was great and the kids were so cute! I don't think anyone will forget the Oh Sh*t incident! Now onto the thank yous...

We "might" be headed to China!

We got a message on Friday that they released appointments to our group with the understanding that if there is any bad news on the swine flu front that we will be turned away when we get there...and they want us to leave June 4th! That is less than 3 weeks away. We are so excited and so completely not ready!

We did break down last night and buy baby gates for the top and bottom of the stairs, as well as her car seat. They are both only available online (our town is pretty small and doesn't have much variety in stores) and could take up to 2 weeks to arrive. Ugh - let's hope that UPS delivers better than DHL!!! We need to have that car seat installed before we head to the airport - let me say it again - on June 4th!

Something that Made us Smile....

One of our concerns about being put on hold due to swine flu is that Makena EE wil have to stay in the SWI even longer. The pictures that we received from her birthday cake celebration made us feel a lot better about that. Makena looks happy, healthy, and well taken care of. It also appears that she is loved. In the background of several of our pictures shows a lot of fun and brightly colored toys; a few of the pictures also show one of her nannies. I wish that I could reach out and hug her nanny for taking the time to help Makena celebrate her birthday.

Happy 1st Birthday, Makena EE!

Charlie and I had a wonderful surprise waiting for us when we got off the airplane from the Bahamas (very nice...) last night. Pictures of Makena with her first birthday cake! She looks happy and healthy; we feel blessed that we were able to get the pictures. Crazy as it might sound - in the first picture we think that she actually looks a bit like my baby pictures (and my sister's, as well as my mom's). We are a bit biased, but what a cutie...and..she did a great job with her first fork experience and first taste of frosting!

The Good and the Bad...

Woot woot! We got our travel approval (TA) from China! Yay! That was the good news...we were granted our Chinese Visas (multiple entry good for a year) and finally received our TA. All systems go. Then Great Wall tells us the bad news...Mak's province stopped granting appointments because of the swine flu. There is no estimate on how long they will stay closed. One step forward...two steps back! We do not know when we will be able to travel now, but will be sure to keep at it until they allow us in!

Trauma

Charlie travels all the time. He travelled so much internationally that he had to get more visa pages in his passport. How crazy is that, right? Imagine my surprise when, after going through the Chinese Visa requirements one last time before submitting our application, I realize that there is not one entirely empty visa page in my passport! The morning that I needed to send it into the consulate too...trauma!!!!!

After some research, phone calls, and a chat with Charlie, I was able to get an emergency appointment at the closest passport agency. So I hopped in the car that evening and drove to Washington DC. Expedia supplied a relatively cheap hotel...I got there so late that night that they upgraded me to the suite. There was a full kitchen, living room, and bedroom - more closets than my house! I headed to the passport agency with all of the required paperwork the next morning for my 9am appointment. Turns out, I had to leave it there and return at 2pm. Since hotel checkout wasn't until noon, I changed into running clothes and took a 90-minute run around the mall. Ran around all of the monuments and caught a glimpse of several politicians. After a quick shower I headed out for Chinese (fitting I thought) and sat next to some senators from the midwest. Very interesting to eavesdrop on!

At 2pm I returned to the agency. Long story short, my passport wasn't ready and I got to enjoy the company of the other hundred or so folks waiting for their paperwork as well. Right before 5pm they called my name...woohoo!!!! I headed straight to FedEx down the street to send in all of our visa applications information. It's actually due back to us tomorrow! Ugh...what a relief it will be to have everything in our hands again! We are still waiting for our TA...that pesky swine flu needs to go away so that we can travel!